Novel
Castanets
El embrujo de Sevilla
Carlos Reyles · 1922
Synopsis
In Seville at the end of the nineteenth century, at the café cantante El Tronío, there cross paths Paco Quiñones, a young man of good society turned matador, Pura, a famous dancer who dreams of taking her dances to the Olympia in Paris, and Pitoche, a Gypsy cantaor who loves her with a jealous love. Paco loves both Pura and a well-behaved young girl, Pastora. Around this drama, the novel shows flamenco song and dance, bullfights and Holy Week, and a painter, Cuenca, discusses their meaning in long dialogues.
Context
The novel was published in Madrid in 1922. It extends a tale, “Capricho de Goya”, published twenty years earlier in La Nación of Buenos Aires, and arose from the author's stays in Seville from 1892 onwards. Well received by the press in Spain, America and France, and praised by several Spanish writers, it is judged folkloric or touristic by its detractors. It has been translated into French, English, German and Dutch: into French by Alfred de Bengoechea as early as 1926, and into English under the title Castanets in 1929.
Who it is for
A novel in Spanish, rich in scenes of flamenco and bullfighting; translated into French and English.
Prizes and reception
The best-known of its author's books, ranked by one critic among his major works; it circulated in America, Spain and France.
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